Help

Fixes for the most common problems with Subtitl Manager and the Subtitl panel in After Effects and Premiere Pro.

Getting started

Installing Subtitl and finding the panel in your editor.

An Apple Silicon Mac (M1 or newer) running macOS 12 or later, with After Effects 2022 or newer, or Premiere Pro 2023 or newer. Intel Macs aren't supported, and there are no plans to add support. Language packs need free disk space while they download and unpack. The full list is on the download page.
  1. Download Subtitl Manager and open it.
  2. Click Sign in using your browser, sign in on subtitl.ai, then come back to the Manager.
  3. Choose the languages you caption in.
  4. Quit After Effects and Premiere Pro fully (⌘Q). Subtitl can't install while they're running.
  5. The Manager installs everything by itself. When it's done, open your editor.
In After Effects or Premiere Pro, open the menu Window › Extensions › Subtitl. If your editor was open during the install, quit it fully (⌘Q) and reopen it first.
  • Quit the editor fully with ⌘Q (not just the window) and reopen it.
  • Open Subtitl Manager and check the Overview. If your editor shows Setup needed, click Finish setup. This happens when you install an editor after Subtitl.
  • Subtitl looks for your editors in the Applications folder. If the Manager says No Adobe editor found yet, make sure the editor is installed there, then click Rescan.
  • Still missing? Contact us and tell us your editor version.
After Effects needs one setting turned on so Subtitl can read your timeline:
  1. Quit After Effects fully (⌘Q).
  2. Open After Effects › Settings › Scripting & Expressions.
  3. Tick Allow Scripts to Write Files and Access Network.
  4. Click OK, then reopen After Effects.
Subtitl Manager can walk you through this too: click Panel not working? at the bottom of the Overview.
Quit it with ⌘Q. Closing the window isn't enough, because the app keeps running. If you've just quit, give it a few seconds to finish closing, then click Check again.

Signing in and your licence

Sign-in, licence and access messages.

Open Subtitl Manager and click Sign in using your browser. Sign in on subtitl.ai with Google or email, then come back to the Manager. It continues automatically. The panel unlocks by itself as soon as you're signed in.
Click sign in again in the Manager and finish it in the browser window that opens. Check that you're online. If the browser didn't open, open subtitl.ai/signin yourself, sign in, then return to the Manager.
Open Subtitl Manager and sign in. The panel unlocks automatically, so you don't need to restart your editor.
Subtitl works offline, but it needs to check in online every so often. Open Subtitl Manager while you're connected to the internet, and the panel unlocks again within a minute.
Quit and reopen Subtitl Manager, then reopen the panel. If it keeps happening, contact us and attach the file panel-errors.log from the folder ~/Library/Application Support/Subtitl (in Finder, choose Go › Go to Folder and paste that path).
The panel needs Subtitl Manager to keep your licence active. Download it again, open it and sign in. Captions unlock automatically.
  • Trial or beta access ended: your access period is over. Your projects and existing captions are untouched.
  • Plan ended: renew from your account.
  • Licence inactive: email us and we'll look into it.
Subtitl is currently in a private beta. To get access, request an invite.

Devices

Using Subtitl on more than one Mac.

Your plan covers a set number of Macs. Choose a device to sign out, and Subtitl moves to this Mac. A device tagged older entry is usually this same Mac from before a reinstall, so it's safe to sign out.
On the old Mac, open Subtitl Manager › Devices and click Deactivate this machine. Then install Subtitl on the new Mac and sign in. If you no longer have the old Mac, sign it out from your account instead.

Language packs and Turbo

Downloading languages and making transcription faster.

Open Subtitl Manager › Language packs, then click Download or Remove. The 80 World Languages come in one download, so once it's installed, every one of them is ready at no extra space. Hinglish, Hindi and English are separate downloads. The panel picks up new languages when you click into it or reopen it.
A pack needs room for its download and for the unpacked files at the same time. The message tells you how much space is needed. Free up that much, then click Download again.
Downloads retry by themselves. If one still fails, check your internet connection and click Download again. Interrupted downloads continue from where they stopped.
Open Subtitl Manager › Language packs, remove that language and download it again, then reopen the panel. Make sure Subtitl is up to date (see Updates).
An optional, faster engine for Hinglish on Apple Silicon (M-series) Macs, about 4× faster end to end. It isn't available on Intel Macs. Install the Hinglish pack first, then add Turbo from the Hinglish row on Subtitl Manager's Languages screen, or when you first choose Hinglish. It's a one-time download of about 1.3 GB, and other languages aren't affected.

Transcribing

Speed, accuracy and what gets transcribed.

Transcription runs on your own Mac, so speed depends on your Mac and the length of your video. To see what to expect, run the speed check in Subtitl Manager › Settings › Run speed check. For Hinglish on Apple Silicon Macs, Turbo Mode is about 4× faster. Closing other heavy apps also helps.
Fix the word in the transcript, and Subtitl remembers it for your next videos. You can also add words yourself in the Corrections tab ("heard" → "should be"). Subtitl only replaces words it was unsure about, and your corrections stay on your Mac.
Subtitl skips clips that are music or sound effects only. Check what you've asked it to caption: the whole sequence, the selected clips, or the in–out range. You can change this in the sentence at the top of the panel.
Subtitl transcribes the audio in the part of the timeline you chose. Unmute the clip, select a clip, or set in and out points. Or switch to Whole sequence.
Close and reopen the Subtitl panel. This can happen right after an update. If it happens on a fresh install, check macOS System Settings › Privacy & Security for a blocked item, or reinstall Subtitl from the Manager.
Your editor is busy, usually rendering, importing or exporting. Subtitl continues as soon as it's free. If it doesn't, click Retry, or restart the editor.

Captions in After Effects and Premiere Pro

Fonts, styles and placement.

The font isn't installed on your Mac, so Subtitl used a substitute. Install the font, or pick another one in the Font tab. For fonts that come with Subtitl, open Subtitl Manager › Settings › Installed files and click Reinstall next to Caption fonts.
A few styles are available in After Effects only for now. Hover over a greyed-out style to see why. Everything else works in both editors.
Turn on Auto-fit to safe area in the Font tab. It shrinks captions just enough to stay inside the frame. You can also change the Position.
Add an empty video track above your footage, then click Generate again.
In Premiere Pro, the previous captions are cleared when a new run starts. Click Generate again to place them. In After Effects, cancelling keeps your previous captions.
Save your project and restart Premiere Pro. Long editing sessions can slow it down.

Updates

How Subtitl stays up to date.

Subtitl updates itself. Subtitl Manager downloads a new version in the background and shows you what it brings. It installs as soon as After Effects and Premiere Pro are both closed. Afterwards, reopen the panel (Window › Extensions › Subtitl).
Quit After Effects and Premiere Pro with ⌘Q. The update installs by itself once they've closed. It can take a minute after you quit, because the editor keeps running briefly in the background.
That version can no longer be used. Click Update now. Your licence is fine and nothing is lost, and it takes about a minute.
Your current version still works, and nothing was removed. Click Try again in Subtitl Manager. Check your connection if it keeps failing.
It updates automatically. When a new version is ready, click Restart to finish. You can also choose Check for updates from the Manager or its menu-bar icon.

Removing Subtitl

Uninstalling, and installing again.

Quit your editors, then open Subtitl Manager › Devices › Remove Subtitl:
  • Remove the panel takes Subtitl out of your editors and keeps language packs and fonts.
  • Remove everything removes all of it, signs you out and frees this Mac's device slot. You can choose whether to keep downloaded language packs.
If you were offline when removing everything, sign this Mac out from your account afterwards.
Download Subtitl Manager, open it and sign in. If you kept your language packs, they're reused without downloading again. If you're asked to sign out a device marked older entry, that's this Mac from before, so it's safe to remove.

Still stuck?

From the panel: click the chat icon (“Send feedback or report a bug”). Your plugin version, editor and macOS version are attached automatically, and our replies appear in the panel under My reports.

By email: [email protected]. We aim to reply within 2 business days. It helps to include:

  • the email address on your Subtitl account;
  • your editor (After Effects or Premiere Pro) and its version, and your macOS version;
  • what you expected and what happened instead, ideally with a screenshot or the exact message.